“…our adoption shows us just how welcome we are here. This is not, after all, the first time, God has adopted. Too often we assume that the Gentiles are the “adopted” children of God, and the Jews are the “natural-born” children. But Paul says that Israel was adopted too (Rom. 9:4). Of Israel, God once said, “Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite (Ezek. 16:3). The Israelites were once Gentiles too. God reminds Israel that he “found him in a dessert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness” (Deut. 32:10). Israel was an abandoned baby, wallowing in its own blood on the roadside (Ezek. 16:5)” – Adopted For Life, Russell D. Moore, p. 30
A brother and dear friend recommended this book to me when he heard that we took the first major step in getting our adoption application processed yesterday at our local social welfare department. I have read the first thirty pages and one too many times, Moore’s account of his sons’ adoption and his pointing the readers to biblical insights reduce me to tears. I can’t wait to get my hands on my copy of the book! (paging Doc, lol!)
Anyway, there, I have said it. When Warren first announced our intent to adopt a child, I remained quiet and did not mention it much even to our friends. I wanted to wait things out, see if we will truly, finally, pursue it. Adoption has always been a plan that we both set out to do, contrary to what most of the people close to us thinks, this is not a recourse or an alternative. Warren, in his blog post said that we want to “take advantage of our incapability to bear children,” well excuse my dear husband but we are not entirely “incapable” of bearing children. Clinically speaking, he has a steady supply of a decent amount of sperm and as for me, well there are still tests I needed to undergo such as the HSG and maybe, just maybe, all I need to do is lose the extra sixty pounds I have accumulated over the years. And of course, other drastic (?) alternatives are also starting to become more available and affordable in our province, so you know, it’s not like we are at the end of the rope of things already.
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I’m still in a quandary, I don’t know if I should pursue tracing my mother’s maternal relatives after finally finding her paternal half-sister. My aunt, Sara, gave me a few more leads that should prove to be very, very helpful should I pursue my search, but I really don’t know… I’m still walking around feeling remnants of the shock these last few weeks had caused me and while I want to take advantage of the valuable information I have, I also am weighing myself whether I’m emotionally prepared for any more shocks or not.
Meeting Tita Sara and my cousin Bryan, who both indulged me by telling me everything they could about my grandfather Isidor, was a very happy occasion but you know, it was also somewhat emotionally exhausting. Bryan’s pretty much like me personality-wise, and seeing glimpses of myself in him was too much to take at times. I mean, how can we have the same personality when we have lived apart all our lives? How can we be so the same in many ways when the only link that we have is the blood that runs through our veins? It was so uncanny but unbelievably true. Much more with my aunt. It was just all so surreal that even after my weekend vacation with them and even now, almost a week after, I am still feeling shaken and out of sync.
So, I am still in a quandary. Should I pursue the Acosta Family of Guiuan, Eastern Samar or not?
“When a child dies, he or she will automatically become an angel of God.”
This is common belief, but what is the biblical basis for this claim? Do dead children really turn into angels? If not, then where do their souls go? Why is it important to know the truth behind this claim?
Angels
Angels are spiritual beings and are part of the universe that God created. They are intelligent and the fact that there are fallen angels prove that they also exercise moral judgment. Lucifer is, in my humble opinion, the very best model of this fact. It is also interesting to note that angels are classified by rank, Michael, as we all know, is an “archangel” and in Daniel 10:13, we see that an “archangel” is one who holds a leadership position, he is one of the “chief princes”. Quite obviously, the cherubim and seraphim are the ones next in rank. Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology discusses that the cherubim were tasked to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden, travel with God as His chariot, and in Ezekiel 10:1-22, we see that “God is enthroned on the cherubim”. The seraphim are specifically mentioned in the book of Isaiah where they worship God by continually calling to one another (Isaiah 6:3).
In Matthew 22:30, Jesus says thus, ” For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (emphasis added), therefore we can assume that angels do not marry nor pro-create. Angels are also powerful, many times across Scripture, they are referred to as “powers”, “authorities” and “dominions”. But, here is a surprising fact: Angels may be powerful and may be authorities, but in 1 Corinthians 6: 2-3, Paul asks the brethren in Corinth thus, “do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” (emphasis added). Yes, we will be positioned higher than the angels on the day of the Lord’s coming and we will judge even the angels then.
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